Chapter 11

Characters returning from Part 1 of the story:

LTC Hawkins

Executive Officer, 46th Group, 6'-1" tall, 185 pounds, 45 years old, brown hair, blue eyes

MAJ Carlson

S-3, 46th Group, 5'-9" tall, 160 pounds, 39 years old, sandy blond hair, gray eyes

The road from the airfield was straight as an arrow and our maps showed that it intersected Highway 4 / 13 roughly half a mile before that road split. One part went through the town and was designated as highway or road 1, and the other part went south of the town and retained the designation of Highway 4 / 13. We crossed an iron bridge of indeterminate age over the Khan River shortly before the road split at a T-intersection.

We turned right toward the town and proceeded a short distance before turning left on to another road. We could see two Wats a little further up the initial road we had turned onto which we learned is sometimes called Thanon Phommathat. It seems that the names of roads in the city were very fluid.

The road that we turned onto and where our compound was located was known as Thanon Whisunalat, at least the part where our compound was. The compound was located slightly past the middle of the block as defined by the roads. It was surrounded by a masonry wall some six and a-half feet tall with glass shards and barbed wire on top of it.

There were double steel gates leading into the compound. One gate was open at present and there was an armed Thai Army guard on duty at the entrance. He called the Sergeant of the Guard when our convoy, now minus the Colonel and the Governor stopped at the gate. The Sergeant of the Guard soon appeared and Carstairs spoke to him before we were allowed to enter the courtyard of the compound.

There was room enough inside for all of our vehicles, but we would need to work out parking arrangements and where to locate the trailers. That was for later, however. Carstairs had left his jeep out on the road while we got straightened out. We hadn't seen a lot of vehicular traffic out on the road since leaving the airfield. Most of the vehicles we had seen had been Thai Army, but there were a lot of bicycles and samlors in evidence.

The house was a mix of French colonial and Lao design. The French had had a strong influence on building design through out all of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The ground floor was brick and plaster with the floor located a couple of feet above the existing ground. There was a broad porch across the front. The upper floor was wood and the house had a tile roof. There was an obvious extension to the house at right angles to it that was two story also but of all wood construction with a tin roof.

The downstairs of the main house had a large gathering room and a dining room with the kitchen and laundry room in the extension and it came complete with a cook and house girl. There were also an office and a den located on the ground floor. The Thai Army contingent of three Sergeants and twelve guards were located on the second floor of the extension. They had access to a large indoor latrine or what the Thais called a hong nam or water room on the first floor of the extension. It had a large shower and a 'facility'. The cook and maid lived on the economy and not in the house with us and were only here to work during daylight hours.

The upper floor of the main house had plenty of bedrooms. They were large enough for the two men of each sub-team and their gear to be comfortable in. The Captain took one room for himself, giving the Master Bedroom to Sawyer and Sophie. It had its own bathroom, but had just a shower and no tub. Suenee and I got the connecting or Mistress Bedroom. It was on the other side of the bath. There was also a large shower down the hall for the others.

Both the Master and Mistress bedrooms had plenty of space. Tweed and Carson helped Suenee and I move our things up to our bedroom. The heaviest item was the small refrigerator. The wicker furniture was all fairly light. The bed that was in there was moved to the room that the Captain occupied. One of the other teams helped Sawyer and Sophie move their things which weren't as extensive as ours.

SFC Phillips saw to setting up the Operations section in the old office area. After our things were moved in, I left Suenee to finish setting things up with Tweed's help and went to set up the radio and its antenna. The den was perfect for this as it had a stout door that could be locked. It was also large enough to secure our small safe and some extra weapons plus it was located across from the office area.

Other members of the team were checking the compound for problems that might need correcting before tonight or later if not serious. I got several of them to help unload the shipping container and get it up into the house. Once inside I could handle it by myself.

The den is located on the back side of the house facing the garden. There was a large window there that I would need to secure, but that was for tomorrow. Today it was important to get the radio setup. Phillips came in with the small safe after that and others followed with boxes of weapons. We would keep the ammunition and explosives in Operations for now, but we would need to see about a storage container for it later to keep it outside.

I had the radio set up and was thinking about the antenna and where to locate it when Sgt. Phillips brought in a brand new 292 antenna kit in its bag.

"I assume you know what this is for?" he said.

"Yes. I was just thinking about an antenna," I told him.

"Sawyer told us to be sure to bring one," he answered.

"I guess the garden is the logical place for it," I told him. I made my way into the garden to look for the best location for the antenna. The hill, Phou Si, blocked a portion of the horizon, but its summit, some 240 feet above the surrounding area was off to our northwest several hundred meters and the slope of the hill closest to us was only sightly higher than our location. Since I expected most of my transmissions would be beamed either southwest or east from here, I didn't see the hill as a real problem.

Sgt. Chang came out and gave me a hand setting up the 292 antenna and driving the pins to anchor the guy wires. We soon had it completed and I connected it to the radio.

By now it 1830 hrs and the Captain put out the word that it was time for chow. We all gathered in the dining room for the meal. The table there was more than large enough, but there was a shortage of chairs. Phillips brought two folding chairs out from Operations.

The cook was an older woman, named Lea, and was apparently Hmong as she spoke that language and some Lao. Suenee assured us that she could understand her and talk to her. Lea didn't understand Sophie's Cambodian accented Thai at all. The house girl was Lao and spoke both Lao and Thai, as the two languages are very similar. She said that she could understand Hmong.

Dinner was very good. The main dish was pork fried rice. It was some what different from the same dish that I had eaten in Korat, Cambodia and Bangkok. It was close to what I had enjoyed in Udorn, however. All had had a regional difference.

Our two female servants went home after dinner and the Captain called a Team meeting after they left, the gates were closed and locked and most of the Thai guards were in their barracks on the second floor of the extension.

"Is everyone at least some what settled in?" Phil asked to start the meeting. There was a chorus of 'yeses' to this.

"That's good, because there is a lot to do and some things that you need to know. Before we get into that, I want everyone to go over the entire house looking for bugs - electronic listening devices. Be suspicious of anything with wires. I don't trust any of the local people here. So let's take some time and spread out and look for anything suspicious," he told us.

Suenee and Sophie joined us for this and they and I were the ones that came up with the five bugs that were found. Suenee later told me that her amulet told her where the ones she and Sophie found were. My own amulet got colder the closer I got to one and warmer when I moved away from it. We eventually found 2 in the great room, one in the dining room and one each in the Master and Mistress bedrooms. We finally reassembled in the great room when no more bugs were found for a while. A number of the team members were shocked at our findings.

"Hopefully that's all of them," Phil said after we reassembled, and then added, "We'll have to keep a constant watch for more."

"I will check the house each day," Suenee volunteered, "my amulet will alert me if there are any more."

"Thank you, Suenee," Phil answered. "Now on to some different business. During the ride in the CIA man, Carstairs, gave Sawyer and me some information about some of the things going on around here. The first thing was to not trust anyone here, except him of course.

"Now that could just be CIA hype, but based on the number and kinds of bugs that we found, it sounds like good advice, at least until we have established a good working relationship with the people here and have determined just who we can trust. Of course, we aren't going to trust the CIA, either.

"The next thing he told us was that being advisers here is a misnomer. We are much more likely to wind up leading indigenous troops than giving advice to the Thai Army, who have their own ideas on operations. We'll have to see how that plays out."

"Hell, sir. That sounds like we could have stayed in Cambodia," Tweed said.

"You may not be far wrong," Phil answered, before adding, "This is a big province. Keep an eye out for extra transportation. If we're all spread out, transportation could become critical to survival. Tomorrow I have a meeting scheduled with the Thai Army Colonel who we met today. We may know more after that. Carstairs gave us some other information and Top will share it with you shortly.

"The next thing is Carstairs, the CIA man. He knows too much about us and I don't like his interest in us. I don't know what his game is yet, but don't assume that his interest and goals are the same as ours. Also while here I want all of you to always go armed, even if it's only to the can. That was one piece of advice that he gave me that I intend to follow."

"Sergeant Baker," Phil asked next, "can we communicate with the 'B' Detachment in Nan?"

"I believe so, sir. I have the radio and antenna set up, but haven't tested it yet. It may take a little fiddling with it. I'll need the frequency and call sign to use also," I told the CO.

"All of those are in the safe," Phil said. "We'll look at them after the meeting is over. I'll now turn you over to Master Sergeant Sawyer."

"All right, listen up," Sawyer started in that big voice of his. "Some of the following you are probably already familiar with, but it doesn't hurt to go over them occasionally.

"First off, don't drink the water. We don't have a water purification unit here other than Halazone tablets. Boiling is an alternative but lengthy solution. That may mean that we have to drink cola or beer all of the time. Don't put the local ice in your drinks either. There is a kerosene refrigerator here and Baker has an electric one that he brought from Udorn. We can use them for making ice from the treated water and keeping drinks cold.

"Second is water again. This is the dry season. Carstairs said that the water supply can be iffy here at the best of times. There are a couple of Klong jars that I saw here, but no rain to fill them now. We need to see about getting some water tanks and lumber to build a tower for them - that project will fall to our two Engineers.

"Next is electricity. Again it's known to be iffy. We'll need to see about a generator and fuel for it. Also some lanterns - probably kerosene as gas is expensive and we'll need it for the vehicles and generator. That's an Infantry task."

"Sophie and I can get lanterns at the market here," Suenee volunteered. "Also the fuel. They are widely used here."

"All right. Thank you, Suenee," Sawyer said.

"We'll need to work out a parking plan for the trailers and vehicles. The Artillery people can work on that. We'll also need sandbags and sand to fill them. We can use local hires to do the filling. There is money to pay them in the Team fund. That is definitely an Infantry task.

"Next, we need a container for ammunition and explosives. De Foor, see what you can come up with. It is definitely down your alley.

"Lastly, Carstairs gave me a list of some of the designations for sites both here and in Lower Laos. Here they are: